Abnormally increased vocal responses to pitch feedback perturbations in patients with cerebellar degeneration.

Cerebellar degeneration (CD) has deleterious effects on speech motor behavior. Recently, a dissociation between feedback and feedforward control of speaking was observed in CD: Whereas CD patients exhibited reduced adaptation across trials to consistent formant feedback alterations, they showed enhanced within-trial compensation for unpredictable formant feedback perturbations. In this study, it was found that CD patients exhibit abnormally increased within-trial vocal compensation responses to unpredictable pitch feedback perturbations. Taken together with recent findings, the results indicate that CD is associated with a general hypersensitivity to auditory feedback during speaking.

White matter microstructure predicts cognitive training-induced improvements in attention and executive functioning in schizophrenia.

We examined the relationship between white matter microstructure in schizophrenia using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and cognitive improvements induced by 70h (~16weeks) of cognitive training. We measured anatomical connectivity in 48 patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and 28 healthy control participants (HC) at baseline, and then examined the relationship between anatomical connectivity at baseline and training-induced cognitive gains in 30 SZ who performed diffusion imaging after completing 70h of training. Compared with healthy control participants, individuals with schizophrenia showed reduced white matter integrity at baseline, as indexed by fractional anisotropy metrics, in bilateral posterior corona radiata, bilateral retrolenticular internal capsules, bilateral posterior thalamic radiation, left anterior corona radiata, left superior longitudinal fasciculus, left sagittal stratum, right cerebral peduncle and the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum. After training, schizophrenia participants showed significant gains in attention/vigilance, speed of processing, verbal learning, visual learning and executive functioning. White matter integrity within the right fronto-occipital fasciculus predicted training-induced improvements in attention/vigilance, while white matter integrity within the right corticospinal tract and bilateral medial lemnisci predicted cognitive training-induced improvements in executive functioning, areas that did not show white matter tract deficits at baseline. These findings suggest that preserved white matter integrity connecting long-range prefrontal-thalamic-sensorimotor areas may be an important determinant for training-induced neurocognitive plasticity.

Abnormal vocal behavior predicts executive and memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease.

Speakers respond automatically and rapidly to compensate for brief perturbations of pitch in their auditory feedback. The specific adjustments in vocal output require integration of brain regions involved in speech-motor-control in order to detect the sensory-feedback error and implement the motor correction. Cortical regions involved in the pitch reflex phenomenon are highly vulnerable targets of network disruption in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examined the pitch reflex in AD patients (n = 19) compared to an age-matched control group (n = 16). We measured the degree of behavioral compensation (peak compensation) and the extent of the adaptive response (pitch-response persistence). Healthy-controls reached a peak compensation of 18.7 ± 0.8 cents, and demonstrated a sustained compensation at 8.9 ± 0.69 cents. AD patients, in contrast, demonstrated a significantly elevated peak compensation (22.4 ± 1.2 cents, p < 0.05), and a reduced sustained response (pitch-response persistence, 4.5 ± 0.88 cents, p < 0.001). The degree of increased peak compensation predicted executive dysfunction, while the degree of impaired pitch-response persistence predicted memory dysfunction, in AD patients. The current study demonstrates pitch reflex as a sensitive behavioral index of impaired prefrontal modulation of sensorimotor integration, and compromised plasticity mechanisms of memory, in AD.

Neural Mechanisms of Positive Mood Induced Modulation of Reality Monitoring.

This study investigates the neural mechanisms of mood induced modulation of cognition, specifically, on reality monitoring abilities. Reality monitoring is the ability to accurately distinguish the source of self-generated information from externally-presented contextual information. When participants were in a positive mood, compared to a neutral mood, they significantly improved their source memory identification abilities, particularly for self-generated information. However, being in a negative mood had no effect on reality monitoring abilities. Additionally, when participants were in a positive mood state, they showed activation in several regions that predisposed them to perform better at reality monitoring. Specifically, positive mood induced activity within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) was associated with improvements in subsequent identification of self-generated information, and positive mood induced activation within the striatum (putamen) facilitated better identification of externally-presented information. These findings indicate that regions within mPFC, PCC and striatum are sensitive to positive mood-cognition enhancing effects that enable participants to be better prepared for subsequent reality monitoring decision-making.